Ageism in Recruiting | What to Do About It

Ageism in Recruiting

ERE Media’s Todd Rafael tackles the hot topic of ageism in recruiting and executive search in an interview with The Good Search CEO Krista Bradford.

Ageism exists.

So it is more a question of what executive recruiters are going to do about it to ensure equal opportunity for all candidates. In fact, the American Association of Retired Persons better known as the AARP reports, “Age discrimination is alive and well in the digital age, despite 50 years of laws intended to protect older Americans’ right to work. In fact, it’s thriving. . .”

Clearly, we all have work to do. We must we must become aware of our own unconscious bias and ensure we’re assessing candidates for the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that they bring to the table, detached from age.

Check Yourself.

So if you are a hiring executive or recruiter and you find yourself describing a candidate as being “long in tooth”, check yourself. One fifth of the working population is over the age of fifty. In the end, you’ll only hurt your own company if you unconsciously discriminate against older workers. Ageism doesn’t hurt the candidate. It hurts your company as well. There’s something to be said for someone who has been-there, done-that. It is unlawful to reject a job-seeker because he or she is over the age of forty. So let us not let Age Discrimination get in the way of good hires. The opportunity cost is too high.

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